Overview
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
Rose Glass’ debut film, Saint Maud, was one of my top picks for the year that it came out. Her style and approach to what was otherwise a particularly typical horror film lifted that movie beyond its tropish elements to something more thought provoking, horrifying, and shocking. With Love Lies Bleeding, Glass moves away from direct horror, and instead throws us into romantic thriller territory, with a film that focuses on Lou (Kristen Stewart) who is a reclusive gym manager with a dark secret past who falls for ambitious bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian), setting off a chain of events that leads to dead bodies and dark truths being uncovered.
Feeling somewhat similar to the darker Coen Brothers films, this is a film populated by grotesque characters throughout, all tucked away in a grotty trailer-trash locale where everyone holds some dark secrets. Lou’s brother-in-law J.J. (Dave Franco) is an abusive husband, whilst her estranged father (Ed Harris) appears to have some connections to the criminal empire of the area, and the pair share a history that she wishes to escape from, only remaining in the small town to protect her sister from JJ. But Jackie brings strength physically, which lets Lou grow stronger mentally, but also a burdening rage as her own past demons play on her mind and threaten the upset the status quo around the pair.
Things get beautiful, then bloody, then surreal through the course of the film, and as the film moves through the final act, some of the visual stylistic choices that Glass makes may alienate some general audiences, with the events shifting from brutal realisms to almost surreal fantasy. But those who connected with the similarly otherworldly approach of fantasy conveyed in Saint Maud will find things uncomfortably familiar. Glass also gets some fantastic performances out of her stars. Ed Harris sports one of the most bizarrely sinister hairstyles ever seen in film, and snarls and absolute menace in every word uttered from his mouth. Stewart is captivating and fiery as Lou, putting to bed any and all criticisms from those who still claim she can’t manage any emotional range – here she gets to show it all, and boy does she deliver! O’Brien is physical power and beauty personified, with a gentle and reserved nature that contrasts against her physicality, and Glass makes us immediately see the attraction that Lou has for her, making us as an audience also fall for her entirely.
A solid second outing for Glass who has now risen to the top of my list of directors I will continue to look forward to seeing more from. Love Lies Bleeding may not be to everybody’s liking, but if you want another play on familiar themes given a fresh and surreal lick of paint, then this is certainly one to watch.